Paper Blood
by Writer is Ninja
Summary: “Let them think me a monster.” She knows she’s not… most days. Enyo had no one, so she raised herself. AU. Both het and slash.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: Xena: Warrior Princess and Hercules: the Legendary Journeys don not belong to me. Copyright is _not_ intended.

A/N: **Ages:** 90 = 9. Enyo is 90, nearly 100. Strife, Cupid and Seph are in the 120/130 range (12 to 13). So when she's 140 they'll be 170/180 (Cupid the oldest). Antares is less than a decade younger than Cupid, about three years actually. When she's 170 they'll be 200 – 17 and 20, basically. Phobos and Deimos are 70.

Summary: "Let them think me a monster." She knows she's not… most days. Enyo had no one, so she raised herself. AU.

_Paper Blood_

***

"_Damn_ hot stuff, who are _you_?" Apollo asked.

She'd be offended that he didn't know her, except she was quiet and it was rare that she got complements. People generally didn't notice her.

"Enyo," she said softly.

It wasn't a dangerous sort of soft, but apparently he took it that way. He stepped back, a scared look on his face.

"What? I'm not gonna tell Dad you hit on me. And I'm not Eris; I'm not gonna fry ya for a compliment."

He laughed, relieved.

"Sorry, it's just –"

"Bad rep, I know. Don't worry about it."

She figured this was about when he made his excuses and left, and was sort of disappointed even if she _was_ used to it. Who wanted to talk to a Goddess of Violence? It was the usual. Well, Strife might have, but she was banned from her own House by Eos' edict, so they'd never really had time to get to know each other. She wasn't allowed to talk to _anyone_ in the House of Aggression, even her own father. To enforce it, Eos had put a Hephaestian bracelet on her that acted like a child monitor, letting Eos know when she was somewhere she wasn't supposed to be. Unlike with most children, Eos didn't take it off when she was older, and banned places included Hephaestus' realm so she couldn't get him to take it off. It would take too long and Eos would flip out and drag her away before it even got close to being off.

Aphrodite and Cupid were always too busy. She wasn't really fond of Demeter, and Persephone was always with Cupid and Strife. Asphodel was off limits too, so she couldn't see Hades or any of the others down there, and Poseidon was generally busy too – though he seemed to like her – while Amphitrite hated her guts. But Amphitrite hated a lot of people, so it wasn't so bad on that end. Triton was just a sleaze. Athena was cold to her (more so than her usual) and Artemis was basically her little follower, so she could visit only Asclepius, Anteros, and Hestia. Not that they weren't nice – they were –, but Anteros was a loner, Ace could be called away at any time, and Hestia was fairly busy in her own right. Generally only Hestia made time for her. Hebe was scared of her; another product of her reputation. It was mainly her and her alone most days, except when her mother was in.

She mostly spent her days in the Halls of Time, Muses' Library or stables. She'd seen 'Pol walk away with one of the Muses trailing behind and giggling, even walked in on them a time or two – not that she didn't leave before she was noticed.

"How old are you?" he asked.

"Ninety-eight. Why, do you want to know if I'm old enough? I've gotten it on with Ganymede a time or two, and I wouldn't mind a tumble."

He smiled. "Interesting, but a bit too much like veal for me yet. Look me up when you're one-forty and we'll talk." One hundred and forty was technically the legal age, although obviously sex often happened sooner. She was surprised, but pleasantly so; it was nice to see that people were wrong about him not having standards. "Here on your own?"

"Yeah. Eos – uh, mom – is busy, and I don't get much interaction otherwise."

"That's right; she got custody. How _is_ Eos? We don't talk much anymore."

"She's fine," Enyo said, not a facial expression to be seen. "Kissing ass to Demeter and Amphitrite, mostly. She's with Helios now. I think Astraeus was last week."

"Sounds like her," Apollo nodded. "You hang around with Thalia and Calliope, don't you? Come visit me sometime."

"Sure," she smiled, certain he'd have forgotten her by morning.

"Look, I gotta catch up with 'Dite before the party's over. See you later?"

"Yeah."

Except that he probably wouldn't notice her again. She came to these mandatory official functions – and nobody would notice if she didn't show up; she wasn't exactly a major God – to talk to people, except that she usually went home all the more depressed because people looked right through her. The only reason Apollo had noticed was 'cause he flirted with anything with legs, and she had a damn nice set of 'em. Granted, her breasts were only average and her ass, though nicely rounded, was rather small, but 'Pol was a leg man, though few ever noticed. When nobody saw you, though, it was natural to just watch, and she saw a lot.

"I see more than anyone realizes, because nobody's watching me."

She rather liked watching Xander Harris; mistakes and all, he still had a way with words. The Halls of Time were a wonderful thing, and she felt rather connected to him in certain ways. Besides, he was good friends with Donella – or, in his time Dawn, the Key of Time and Dimension, the Halls of Time in sentience. Few spent the time to know that she would someday be a Goddess in her own right – not that time meant anything if she didn't want it to. She was _very _powerful, which was why she hid, and only sort of semi-sentient at the moment. Still, she was one of the few Enyo could call friend.

She'd still prefer a flash and blood body that she'd be able to hug.

"Strife," she murmured as he passed. He paused, looking for all the world like he was just taking in the scenery. "Pass this note to Dad, would you?"

He nodded discretely.

"You look beautiful tonight, by the way."

"Thanks," she smiled. And he carried on. She was also banned from Hermes' place, since she could have passed notes to Ares or others that way, so she had to leave messages at these official functions. Eos hadn't exactly taught her materialization, so she couldn't just pop a note to him either. Ares knew that she wasn't allowed to see him or be in the Halls of Aggression – this being part of the custody battle – but he wasn't aware of just _how many_ places her mother didn't allow her to go. Why bother? There wasn't anything that he could do about it. He figured that Eos was like Demeter; scarily overprotective.

Eos didn't care about her. She didn't want her daughter, but didn't want anyone else to have her either. What few times she noticed Enyo was usually to use her like a pretty dress-up doll and show her off at parties, that or to punish her for something that she wasn't normally there to notice anyway. Of course, Eos was _always_ the victim "of Ares' lusts" to other pantheons, keeping her daughter away from "that brutish boar". Like _she_ cared; she just didn't want anyone else to have control of Enyo.

She snagged a running kid, who she belatedly recognized as Deimos. It wasn't like she was allowed to talk to her dad's side of the family, and the twins weren't out that often, so it could be excused somewhat. She vowed to pay more attention to them in the Halls of Time.

"You and your brother stop running and I'll sneak you some nectar later." Enyo may not have been allowed to be around her siblings at all, but she knew exactly how to handle them; bribery. "Run this to Uncle Hades for me, will ya?"

Nectar was a mildly alcoholic honey drink. She would, of course, water it down to near nothing, but she had always been allowed to drink – even when Eos wasn't too busy to pay attention to her – and didn't see the problem with letting the twins have some. The brats, as she affectionately called anyone younger than her, would still get the taste with no more alcohol than what was in Ace's cough syrups. They'd probably pretend at being drunk and then fall asleep when the high of rebellion wore off.

The boy nodded quickly and was off.

"Enyo! _There_ you are. Girls, this is my daughter. Doesn't she look lovely tonight?"

Mother calls. Mentally, she sighed.

***


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: Xena: Warrior Princess and Hercules: the Legendary Journeys don not belong to me. Copyright is _not_ intended.

A/N: **Ages:** 90 = 9. Enyo is 90, nearly 100. Strife, Cupid and Seph are in the 120/130 range (12 to 13). So when she's 140 they'll be 170/180 (Cupid the oldest). Antares is less than a decade younger than Cupid, about three years actually. When she's 170 they'll be 200 – 17 and 20, basically. Phobos and Deimos are 70.

Summary: "Let them think me a monster." She knows she's not… most days. Enyo had no one, so she raised herself. AU.

_Paper Blood_

***

**Chapter Two**

Thalia, shocked that her mother hadn't already taught her to materialize and transport, was teaching her how to use her long suppressed and built up Godly powers. It allowed her to send notes to her father, and slowly they were building a relationship from a previous lack of contact. She still couldn't go to the Halls of Aggression, of course, but they were now able to work around that somewhat. She just told him that Eos had been too busy to teach her, which was sort of the truth in a twisted way since Eos would _never_ have time to teach Enyo things she didn't want her to know.

And, since she couldn't transport before that, Eos had forgotten to block her from the mortal realm. She could go to _Earthly_ temples if not Godly ones, so now she could visit her relatives sometimes – in another form, naturally, just in case. The shapeshifting had been passed down from Zeus; Eris and Strife had it too, while Ares and Cupid had Hera's wings.

With Thalia's help, she was slowly assimilating her Godhood, letting the blocks of her childhood unravel. Thalia and Calliope weren't so much friends as people sharing common interests, and Thalia seemed to now have taken on the role of a teacher, but she knew how to make Enyo laugh, and that was worth all the gold in Greece. Enyo didn't have much reason to laugh usually. Thalia was nice, and it was even nicer to be able to go down to Strife's few earthly temples and play with the kids.

Enyo still spent her days in the Halls of Time or buried in the Muses' Library or cooking with Hestia, but now she could get a real _feel_ for the mortal world instead of just watching it. She could walk amongst them, observing up close instead of from afar. And when Ares had time he could come down and visit her; they'd go for walks. Aphrodite and anyone else who bothered to look in just saw another lover, this one perhaps more serious than others. He _did_ have more than one-night stands on occasion despite what his reputation would imply.

And, like she had expected, Apollo had forgotten her; with nothing to do, her life wasn't all that interesting. She naturally had trouble interacting with people, what with the lacking contact most of her life thing. Donella, the Halls of Time, was as close to a friend as Enyo could get, but she was only semi-sentient. She didn't get the emotional aspects of living at times either. Ace was still busy, and Hestia, while a great Aunt, was still more like and aunt than a friend; besides, while she could follow a recipe she wasn't that great of a cook. Anteros – well, she had no idea _what_ he was doing. That wasn't too unusual; he liked to do his own thing. She got visits with Ares and Strife now, though, which was something, and was now allowed to babysit Deimos and Phobos; she was now teaching them the fine art of lying. When they were older it would be daggers and throwing knives, which she'd had to learn on her own. She still didn't have a sword yet, not seeing how she could sneak _that_ past Eos even if the woman wasn't home often.

"Hello!" the man said cheerily.

"Hello," she smiled, more an immediate reaction than out of any particular joy. "What can I do for you today?"

Looking at things, a _lot_.

"How much would it cost to get my sword fixed?" He asked this at every village.

"Hmm, how much you got?"

She'd had to make her own weapons, so when in the mortal realm she figured 'why not fix them'? Besides, being a blacksmith gave Ares more reason to visit her as a supposed 'lover', and she acted the part of a war widow who kept her deceased brother's business alive to make a living off of.

She may be a Goddess, but she wasn't perfect. She could whip up a story or a song right quick, dance and fight (which sort of went hand in hand), didn't charbroil soup like her mother, could even make and fix weapons (although naturally she was no Heph, and she didn't use God Metals usually), but she wasn't good with emotions and people; and love, especially, was foreign. But luckily, that wasn't needed in fixing a sword of any sort.

"Um, twenty-three dinars."

The kid expected to be turned away, _as usual_, she read from his mind. But Enyo wasn't a normal mortal who needed the money; she was a Goddess who could materialize anything she wanted. Not fully trained, truthfully, and she couldn't tap fully into her small worshiper base yet, but dinars were simple enough to make.

"Hmm, that's a bit too much," she lied. "Thirteen dinars for the sword and I'll throw in some metal/leather armor mesh that should work better than what you're wearing, if you let me use your current armor to make it."

He beamed.

"Deal!"

He was so relieved that she hadn't just laughed him out of her shop. Seeing this, she paused to review some of his other memories; nothing too intrusive, just a light scan. What she saw appalled her. She smiled gently and genuinely at him.

"Come back in two hours and I'll have it all ready. In the meantime, dear, there's an inn 'round the corner, Erie's Eye, that serves a mean luncheon. Tell them Deidara sent you."

Code for: put it on my tab. As an afterthought, she checked his mortal signature; well, not so mortal after all. By her guess one of his great-greats had been a God; by the markings, either Papa or 'Dite, maybe Cupid, possibly Strife. Gaia knows Strife wasn't allowed to acknowledge his few demi- or full-mortal children, much like Papa, and Cupid and Aphrodite generally didn't either, though less out of fear for their safety and more out of not wanting to bring them to Zeus' _attentions_. At any rate, the man was dedicated and a Protected of Ares and a Favorite of Aphrodite and Strife.

She'd have to watch over this little one more. Despite what some might say, he was no fool; he knew his limits. His imagination was runaway, though, and the would be well-suited to the life of a bard, actually, if he weren't so close to Ares in his heart. She wouldn't add her own protection yet – she didn't really know the teen – but he would certainly bear watching. Besides, she hadn't built her Totem yet to bestow blessings or curses and tie her energy to. Godly power directly on a mortal – or even a demi-god right now – would likely kill them. She hadn't actually decided what it would be yet. With her dad it was the Sword of War. With Strife it was one of many daggers. Who knew what Discord's was, and Dite used jewelry. She was thinking about a goblet that she'd leave to catch dust in the back of the pantry, or maybe a bag of flour or some such. Her mother was House of Intellect and while Eos hadn't really raised her she also hadn't raised a fool. She wasn't about to use a quill like Athena, who while intelligent severely lacked in the common sense department. Perhaps a button or the like. As long as it wasn't claimed by the power of another God, or taken from her sphere of influence, it was hers still.

Of course, she thought, hammering at the heated sword (sometimes she preferred to do things the mortal way, though she'd definitely just zap up the armor), watching the interesting mortal would have to take second to her new duties. Eos was now officially pregnant by one of her lovers – Astraeus, she claimed – and while he would likely help, Enyo figured that she'd probably end up with most of the childrearing. Eos already had four other children by him, all boys, but it was a girl so Eos would likely keep the child instead. Boreas, Eurus, Zephyrus and Notus didn't really bother her; in fact she doubted that they even knew she was their half-sister, or if they did they probably didn't think of her. Children brought light to her life, so she was happy about this new girl-child. But she'd definitely have to tread carefully during the pregnancy. Eos got… irrational, at that time. It wasn't pleasant. Luckily, she planned to keep the pregnancy dormant for a long while; maybe decades, if not centuries; so maybe Enyo _would_ have time. Still, she'd have to prepare – Eos probably wouldn't tell her when the baby was to be born.

The kid was back.

"Hold on a minute…"

"Joxen," the teen supplied.

"Joxen, then. The armor's in the back."

Or it would be when she thought it up. A leather/metal mesh would work so much better for him than the heavy armor he wore now. He needed speed over protection. She came back out with a nice set in deep earthy browns.

"You come visit me, ya hear? Come 'round and tell me all 'bout your adventures the next time you're in Thebes. I could use a friend."

That she could. Being a female and a blacksmith didn't lend to friends any more than being the Goddess of Violent War did.

She sighed as he left with a smile and a promise to return. At least this one she could count on to come back. It was almost dark; she'd have no more business today, so maybe she'd go watch Strife's temple kids playing and laying down to sleep. She could always flash into the backroom of the shop if someone needed a late night weapon fix; it was set to alert her immediately anyway.

Maybe Strife would be there.

***


End file.
